House Elves Come First
by Berrie Salamander
Summary: At twenty five Hermione falls pregnant, and so heads to work to ask her boss for maternity leave. But she's dreading when that time comes, not for of herself, but for something she's been working hard for since she was fourteen.


**This has been written for the Happiest Moment in Their Life competition, for the second, or deciding, round. Hope you like it :) It's Hermione at twenty five…**

When I was younger I used to draw up big plans on what I was going to achieve at fifteen, eighteen, twenty one, twenty five, thirty. That was before I found out I was witch. I remember my old "aims": I was to get a boyfriend at fifteen, go to university at eighteen, get a job and meet my true love at twenty one, marry him at twenty five, and have a child at thirty. None of those really worked out exactly. I'm twenty five now, but my wedding is not approaching. My wedding happened almost two years ago. I will be turning twenty six in two months. That wouldn't bother most people, but everything seems to be counted in months not that I'm three months pregnant.

It was a bit of a shock when I first found out, not that the baby was an accident. Looking back on my old plans, I suppose it was naïve of my nine year old self to think that there would be a five year gap between marriage and children, even if it happened that way for my parents. But still, I did wonder whether it was too soon to have a child, since I was – and am – still thinking about my career. I mean, most of the women in my extended family are pregnant, like Ginny, or have already had children – again, like Ginny. I don't think Ron would have wanted to be the last of his family to have a child, even though that seemed very unlikely anyway, since Charlie doesn't even have a girlfriend at the minute.

I found out I was pregnant one month down the line, and when I did I laughed. I'm not sure why, it was just my instinctive reaction. Then Ron called, 'So does that mean you are pregnant?', and I abruptly stopped laughing.

'Yes, Ron. I'm pregnant. What do you say to that?'

'That's – that's great, I mean, wow… so I'm a Dad now?'

'Technically speaking,' I replied, and I opened the door of the bathroom to find him in the room next door. 'But I hope you realise that the baby is not currently aware of that fact?'

To be honest, Ron took it better than I thought he would. At least he didn't say, 'Bloody hell' when I told him. The rest of the Weasleys practically crushed me when I told them the news, which is how I learnt that you should never tell that family anything big or important when they're all gathered under one roof.

But now I'm facing something slightly more nerve-racking. You'd think that, having been in this job for five years or so, I'd be slightly more confident at facing my own boss. I mean, I won't be going on maternity leave for about another six months, but I better get it out there now. It's not that I'm worried about Mr Turler firing me, or anything to do with the economics of the job. It's just that I'm worried that if I'm gone for a while, everything I've done so far to improve rights for House Elves will crumble. People who oppose my views might see my maternity leave as chance to return to the old ways when they should be visiting me in hospital with a bunch of flowers and a congratulations card.

'Oh, good morning Mrs Weasley!' says Mr Turler as I enter his office. 'To what do I owe this pleasure?'

I don't immediately say anything. Instead I take the seat on the opposite side of the desk to Mr Turler.

'Well, you see Mr Turler,' I begin. 'It is my pleasure to ask for maternity leave, starting in six months time.'

'Ah, so you are pregnant!' Mr Turler beams, and it sounds as though he and someone else have noticed a small bulge in my stomach and wondered why. They may even have had a bet going on, Mr Turler's smile as quickly faded. 'Congratulations. Yes, of course you can have maternity leave. It will be a shame to lose you for a year or so, but don't worry, this leave will be paid.'

'I wasn't worried about the pay,' I assure him.

'Then why do you look so distressed?' he asks me.

I freeze. Do I really look so visibly upset?

'Because, Mr Turler, because I'm worried about all the rights I've worked to get for House Elves over the past five years. I go for a year, and everything could crumble. I sort of feel like I'm abandoning them.'

Mr Turler laughs. I look up, slightly confused.

'Mrs Weasley, really,' he says. 'You don't have a thing to worry about. These rights are here to stay. It would take more than a year to change them, at any rate. Think about what you've just said – it's taken you five years to get this far! No, don't worry about anything. When the time comes, you've just got to relax and experience the joys of motherhood.'

I have to stop myself at this point from saying, 'Which you know so much about, Mr Turler,' and instead I stand up, say, 'Thank you,' and walk out of the office.

I feel like a great weight as lifted off my shoulders. I may have a lack of "real work" in about six months time, but bringing up a baby will be just as challenging as any work I have ever done before. At least I'll still have books to help me with being a good Mum.


End file.
